Printing mechanisms, such as inkjet printers, may use pens, which shoot drops of liquid colorant, referred to generally herein as “ink,” onto a print medium, such as a page of paper. Each pen may have a printhead formed with very small nozzles through which the ink drops are fired. To print an image, the printhead may be propelled back and forth across the page, shooting drops of ink in a desired pattern as it moves. The particular ink ejection mechanism within the printhead may be implemented in a variety of different ways, such as by piezo-electric or thermal printhead technology.
To clean and protect the printhead, also called servicing or maintenance of the printhead, a service station mechanism may be mounted within the printer. During cleaning the printhead may be moved over the service station and ink may be ejected or “purged” from the printhead nozzles toward a spittoon or ink collection chamber of the service station. The ejected ink may combine with surrounding air to create an ink aerosol that is not easily contained with the spittoon. The uncontained ink aerosol may damage internal components of the printing mechanism or contaminate sites within the printing mechanism such as the input or outputs trays, or print media held therein. In the case of color printing mechanisms, an ink aerosol from one colored ink printhead may emerge from the spittoon and contaminate an ink printhead of a different colored ink, thereby reducing the print quality of each image printed thereafter.